Container support including associated tray element



y 9, 1961 F. A. SWIFT, SR 2,982,982

CONTAINER SUPPORT INCLUDING ASSOCIATED TRAY ELEMENT Filed Oct. 51, 1958"illlllpplppnnrlllilul INVENTOR.

' Fen/w: A. Stu/FT, 5e,

HTTOE/VEYS.

United States Patent() J 1. "CONTAINER SUPPORT INCLUDINGASSO- i 'C E-TRAE EL MENI 1 A. Swift, st, 18912. 7th St, Chico, Califi, as- 7 Signoror one-half to Frank A; Swift, In, San Anselmo,

.Filed Oct. 31,1958, Sen-No. 171,122

-3Clai rns (Cl.1 5--257.06)'

This invention is directed to article supports generally, and morespecifica ly to an articlesupport susceptible of ttil za' sns' s s a thes a of Paint containers, or the liker 1 O1 :1Q i Q vepf..th9 presentinen i u is t provid an article support having means for the,accommodation Q rq nt i w s 9f assorted. nd shap i Amth ra ject is th prsupp e n i .QQHLh. .W th. a or th ke Th l fi a x iq 9 the ins an conta nupp rt in he. f e in en f Qnmeut has h entoun resultin hea-fp lgw neadyea eqi sr 1. iAurQ g hersnthese JQ J-l Q cidentally or inadvertently fallfrom the ladder; the ladder may be readily moved from place-to-placewithout removal of the support and paint can therefrom; the painter hasno need to hold the paint can and therefore has both hands free for usein painting and in holding the ladder, thereby lessening the danger offalls; and lastly, floors and carpets are protected from the spillage ofpaint thereon which often occurs when paint cans are accidentallydisplaced from ladders.

An object and advantage of the present construction is the provision ofan accessory part therefor which may be operably connected thereto inorder to adapt the support for reception of a paint roller tray or thelike, or for the reception of paint directly therein for subsequentroller application.

An additional object and advantage of the present invention resides intheprovision of an article support of the class described supra, thesupport being noncomplex in construction and assembly, inexpensive tomanufacture, durable in use, and easily installed and removed.

Numerous other and further objects and advantages will become morereadily apparent from a considera tion of the following specificationwhen read in conjunction with the annexed drawing, in which:

, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the article support of the presentinvention illustrating a portion -of a ladder and a paint can in phantomlines;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the holder, having means for adjustingthe size of its article holding capacity included therein;

Figure 3 is a detail cross-sectional view of the holder takensubstantially along the vertical plane of the section line 3-3 of Figure2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the article support; and

of paint are .re r e edles e yite ac- 3 l atentecl May 2 body member 12formed of an inherently resilient ma-'' terial; such as plastic (ormetal, and includes a bight' or Web portion 14 with spaced apart,confronting, substan tially rectangular'parallel arm plates 16 and '18extendirig therefrom. As seen in Figurel, "the plates 18 are spacedasufiicient'distance apart to receive .th e4.

between, a ladder step,,or thelike, and have releasable locking means20, positionedadjacent the free outer ends he spt- Y Thejlocking means20 include a block 22, secured to the outer free end of the .arm plate atransverse bore 24 being formed therein, and a coaxial borebeing formedin the aforesaid end of the. plate outer free end of the plate 18 alsohas a transverse bore 28 for-med therein, and a nut 30 of conventionaljc Qnfiguration is embedded in the plate'and has its threaded 7op'er'iing in" co-aligninent with 'the bore 28 thereon A cylindricalscrew 32 is passed through the bores '24 and 26 -forthreaded engagementin -the-nut30 and has --a win'g" madt a e stqm on type actuating element34 securedor formed at the outer endtheredf. Lj'. "j I? A-;c.ylindrical.outer=l 1older'36 is integrally formed, .or' fixedlyisecured, to the,armplate 16 andxextends" up:- wardly therefrom. As seen ,in :Figure 1,the outer holder may. e 1 pe itie l slv fqrmedcf proper fslzefltqaccent: ,ll n jcyli a qq nta n re or a so, fine 9 anrpthe s ren s zeQRxih'P"! number of adaptor rings 38 may be additionally pro-. vided inorder that the device 10 may be utilized with containers of varyingsizes and shapes. The adaptors 38 shown here each have cylindricalbodies 40 and a plurality of substantially rectangular spacer ribs 42 ofsubstantially equal size extending radially therefrom, the purpose ofthe ribs 42 being to place the bodies 40 in substantially concentricrelationship relative to the holder 36. a

In use, the screw 32 is manually removed from the lock assembly 20 andthe arm plates 16 and 18 receive a chosen step 46 of a ladder 48therebetween, the bight 14 bearing against the leading end of the step46.- The screw 32 is then reinserted through the bores 24 and 26 andinto threaded engagement with the nut 30 where upon it is tighteneduntil the element 34 bears against the block 22 thus drawing the outerends of the plates 16 and 18, which are, as stated above, formed of aresilient material, toward one another and securing the device 10 firmlyin place on the ladder 48. A can of paint 50 or the like, is fitted intothe holder 36 and is frictionally held thereinagainst accidental orinadvertent displacement therefrom.

When cans or containers of smaller circumference are to be used, thedevice 10 is equipped with the adaptor ring or rings 38 appropriatethereto. For example, if the container 50 is taken as representing thecustomary one gallon container, then the next smallest one of the rings38 might be of proper size and scope to accommodate a one quartcontainer, and the following one of the rings 38 might be fitted to aone pint can. It is obviously within the scope of this invention to varythe foregoing sizes in accordance with the needs of the users of thisdevice.

The accessory part referred to supra is concerned with the utilizationof the holding device 10 when it is desired to apply paint, or the like,with a roller apparatus. To this end the accessory, identified here as52, is provided. The accessory 52 includes a hollow cylindrical base 54which is of proper size to be removably press-fitted into the holder 36of the device 10. A substantially rectangular tray 56 is secured to thebase 54, as at 58, on

one side of the upper rim thereof, and includes a substantiallyrectangular tray base 60 having an end wall 62, side walls 64, 66, anda'depressed container 68 at the opposed end thereof. A substantiallytriangular block 70 is also secured to the base 60 and to the opposedside of the rim of the base 54 in order to incline the tray 60 in thedirection of the end container 68.

In using the accessory 52, the base 54 is substantially press-fittedinto the holder 36 of the device 10. Paint, or the like, may be placeddirectly into the tray 56 if desired, or a conventional paint rollertray (not shown) may simply be placed in the aforesaid tray 56, and willbe held therein. I

The foregoing description and illustration of an exemplary embodiment ofthis invention in use as a paint container support has been chosen asmerely illustrative of the wide range of applicability of this device.There fore, this description should not, in any way, be construed as alimitation on the scope of the invention, and such invention is to belimited only by the scope of the appended claims. I

What is claimed is: 3

1. An article support adapted for releasable engagement with a generallyrectangular member, said article support comprising a main body portionwhich includes a bight portion and a pair of spaced apart, substantiallyparallel arm plates, said arm plates being of a length such that theyproject outwardly of said rectangular member; a substantiallycylindrical, hollow holder secured to one of said arm plates andprojecting outwardly thereof; adjustable means adjacent the outer freeends of said arm plates for moving said ends toward one another wherebysaid arm plates clampingly engage said member; and at least one annularadapter ring having a plurality of substantially rectangular spacer ribsextending radially therefrom, said ribs being of a length such that theadapter ring is uniformly spaced interiorly of the holder.

2. An article support as defined in claim 1, wherein a plurality of saidadapter rings are provided, each of said rings being of a reduceddiameter whereby the holder is selectively usable to support containersof varying sizes.

3. An article supportas defined in claim 1, and a tray support assemblyadapted for releasable engagementin said holder, said tray supportassembly comprising a substantially cylindrical base which is adapted tobe substantially press-fitted into said holder; a generally rectangulartray secured to one end of said base, said tray being inclined from endto end with respect to the base and having a depressed portion extendingthe full width of its downwardly inclined end. i

